This week brings not only the 75th anniversary of the publication of The Hobbit, it’s Bilbo and Frodo Baggins’ shared birthday too. So what better time to premiere a new trailer for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey? The first film in Peter Jackson‘s latest J.R.R. Tolkien trilogy opens December 14 and, after the jump, you can check out the second trailer.

So, what do you think?

Being as this is the first major piece of marketing released since the announcement of The Hobbit’s conversion into a trilogy, you get a much smaller sense of story in this trailer. The scope of the film itself still looks huge. Big action, incredible sets, etc., but it certainly feels like the same four or fives scenes are shown again and again. Personally, I’m very curious to how long the meeting at Bag End is going to be, and even joked with a friend that 90 minutes of this movie will be dwarves singing and then the credits would roll. (Actually, the marketing has already suggested where this film ends, click here if you’re curious.) It obviously won’t be to that extreme, but it might be longer than it would have been if this was one movie, or even two.

Also, as opposed to the rousing Howard Shore score and poignancy of the first trailer, this one is much more humor-filled. With 13 dwarves as the stars, that’s obviously going to play a huge role and this trailer does a solid job selling that.

Still, Jackson is certainly back in his element here. The effects look stunning and even if the story is a bit smaller than, say, The Fellowship of the Ring, that doesn’t mean it’s going to be any less impactful. We’re meeting Bilbo at a time of pure innocence so to see him slowly become something much more over the course of three movies should be a rewarding and fun journey.

So that’s the second trailer for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. Does it live up to your expectations? Did you like it better than the first trailer?